


Hot Rollers and Gossip

by CityEscape4



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, alot of mentioned one sided relationships; love is fickle, i just really wanted more Alit and Rio interaction dont judge me, one-sided Alit/Yuma, one-sided Rio/Kotori, this is complete self indulgence based on a headcanon of mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-09 20:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18924355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CityEscape4/pseuds/CityEscape4
Summary: Rio finds her friendship with Alit strengthen in the most unusual of ways.





	Hot Rollers and Gossip

People _really_ needed to learn how to lock the bathroom door when they were using it.

That was the thought that crossed Rio Kamishiro's mind the millisecond she saw the first sign of what she assumed was an unclothed Alit when she opened the bathroom door that morning, only to find said male already occupying the space inside. Thankfully, he was only shirtless, sparing her the act of bleaching her eyes from seeing anything unpleasant. 

Alit, while surprised, didn't flinch and continued his morning routine, using a towel to wipe at his mouth, having just finished brushing his teeth. "You need the bathroom?"

Rio looked him over, her eyes rising to his hair. Before she could stop herself, she spoke. "Curlers?"

In his usually curly brown hair were, in fact, hot rollers. While his hair usually covered part of his face, the hot rollers rose it up, exposing his full face. Alit blinked, tracing Rio's gaze to the aforementioned curlers in his hair. "Oh... these?" He asked, using one hand to point at his head.

She expected him to get huffy and indignant, expected him to get flustered, maybe even get mad. What she didn't expect was the bright smile that graced his tanned face.

"Looks like you caught me, huh?" Alit's grin failed to fade as he spoke, "Not that I was tryin' ta hide it or anything; No one ever asked." He turned to admire himself in the mirror, looking over his curling hair. "If I don't do _something_ with it, it just poofs and goes everywhere."

Rio watched Alit as he admired himself, and found herself too curious to leave. "So why curl it? Why not do something else with it?"

The grin on Alit's face finally faltered, but only for the briefest of moments - so brief Rio almost missed it. "Its how I was shown in my past life!" He explained, not taking his sight off his reflection. "Koutei used these oils and other stuff to tame my hair, but this modern stuff you guys have now is so much simpler? It's great."

Rio blinked at the mention of Koutei, not having heard the name before, but at hearing the rest of Alit's explanation, couldn't help but laugh, not out of cruelty, but out of amusement. "Yeah, I guess so, Alit."

Alit's grin turned playfully coy then, glancing at Rio from the corner of his eye. "Y'know, I could always curl your hair if you wanted. I've got free time today."

A smirk tugged at the edge of Rio's lips then, her gaze meeting Alit's. "Oh please, you wouldn't be able to handle my hair. _I_ can barely handle my hair."

"Is that a challenge?"

* * *

This was how Rio found herself in her bedroom with Alit, her hair pinned up in layers as Alit put hot rollers in it.

"Your hair's alot thicker than it looks," Alit admitted as he set her brush down, starting to set hot rollers on her bottom-most layer of hair. His own curlers were no longer in, and his hair was back to its usual style, covering part of his face.

"I know," Rio replied, relaxing in front of her vanity as she watched Alit work through the mirror. "But I have to admit, you're impressing me right now." She chuckled as Alit shot her a grin of approval through the mirror, and continued, "Are you going to curl all of it?"

"D'ya _want_ me to curl all of it?" Alit arched a brow, pausing his movements momentarily.

"If you want," came Rio's calm answer, as she toyed with the bristles on her brush, "I don't have to meet with Kotori until noon, so I have time." She could feel a heat growing against her scalp as Alit continued to apply the curlers and exhaled slowly, her hair being thinned by layering causing her to feel the heat against her scalp more quickly than normal.

Alit noticed her brief uncomfort and spoke. "Lets just start with the bottom and see how it looks from there."

A comfortable silence settled between them as Alit worked, Rio being mindful not to move her head too much as he did. As he finished with that first layer, he held his hand out for her brush, and Rio complied, handing it to him. "Thanks." He muttered, a muted look of thought on his face as he began to brush out her next layer of hair.

Rio noticed his expression through the mirror and frowned. "What's wrong?"

Alit blinked, and looked at the mirror, shaking his head. "Just thinking."

"You? _Thinking?_ Wow," Rio playfully teased, smiling as she spoke, "I should tell Durbe, he'd be so proud."

Alit laughed at that, his head falling back slightly as he did. "Oh please, nothing I do will be good enough for him, that stick in the mud." He continued brushing her hair, and spoke again. "Its just, well..." His eyes glanced from side to side, like he was confirming they were indeed alone in Rio's bedroom, "You and Kotori, huh? Is there anything there?"

"Alit," Rio said, feigning offense as she raised a hand to her heart, "don't tell me you're a gossip."

"No, no, its not gossip, per se," Alit rebutted, putting Rio's brush down, "I just see the way you look at her, and was wondering, is all."

Rio smiled, putting her hand down. "For your information, there's nothing going on between us."

"Doesn't mean there's not _something_ there though."

"Maybe," Rio replied, "but I'm content just being friends. Besides, she's already got feelings for Yuma."

"Yuma."

As Rio spoke Yuma's name, Alit spoke it at the same time, nodding as he did so. He hadn't moved to put in any curlers yet, and there was a far-away look in his eye.

"Alit?"

"And it gets even more complicated, because Yuma's got feelings for Astral." Alit continued, absentmindedly running his fingers through Rio's hair. "But you got Kotori who's got feelings for Yuma, you got Vector, you got Ryoga, you got Anna, you got Michael... And who knows what Astral's feelings are for Yuma?"

"...Maybe they're the same as yours." Rio concluded, watching the way Alit spoke about this letting her realize that Alit also had feelings for Yuma.

Alit swallowed harshly, before plastering a grin on his face, looking at Rio through the mirror. "Maybe." He reached towards the rollers then, and began applying them to Rio's hair.

"...You want to talk about it?"

"Nah," Alit dismissed, shaking his head. "I've had my chance, and it's alright. I'll always see him as an angel, but its 's ok if he's not _my_ angel."

If she hadn't been getting her hair done, Rio would have tilted her head somethat at that. "An 'angel'?"

Grinning, Alit nodded. "Yep, an angel! I've only ever known three."

"That's more than most people ever know in one lifetime." Rio commented, amused at Alit's angel antics. 

"Luckily I've had three lifetimes, so it all averages out."

Rio laughed at that, before folding her arms and giving a thoughtful look. "Three angels, you said? So one's Yuma..."

"One's Kotori." Alit admitted, causing Rio to gasp slightly. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna steal her from you."

"You better not." Rio playfully threatened. "If I find you curling _her_ hair--"

"Don't worry," Alit repeated, "Aside from my own hair, yours is the only one I'll curl."

"Well I'm honored." Rio replied. "Not even halfway through my first hair curling session with you and you've already pledged your loyalty to me. I'm lucky Ryoga's hair is naturally curly or else who knows - you might go gossip with him too."

"Is that really what we're doing here - gossiping?" Alit asked with a smile.

"Yes!" exclaimed Rio, who smiled back in return. "You don't know for sure all those people have feelings for Yuma, you just think they do."

"Have you seen they way they all act around him!?"

"It's still gossip."

Alit sighed, shaking his head. "It may as well be fact."

"Maybe." Rio said, closing her eyes as Alit continued to outfit her hair in the rollers. A few moments of silence passed between them before she spoke again. "Who was the third person?"

Alit finished with that second layer of hair, and shigted where he stood, his gaze falling to the floor before speaking. "There was an emperor in my past life, named Koutei. He was... he was my everything. He was my first angel."

Rio was silent then recognizing the name from earlier. She knew that whatever good Alit had had with Koutei was shattered by Don Thousand's interference. "I'm sorry I asked."

"Don't be." Alit assured her, shaking his head, "I like remembering him. It reminds me of all the good times we had."

"How did you meet him?" Rio asked.

So Alit told her everything: How they met, how they slowly fell in love, how great everything had been until Don Thousand's interference. He even told her how he died. All this, while still doing her hair.

When he was done, Rio was silent, taking in everything she'd heard. Alit was silent as well, having basically told Rio nearly everything about his first life, something that no one outside of Yuma and Astral knew. Alit finished up the last curl on Rio's last layer of hair, and murmured, "All done."

Rio looked at herself in the mirror, smirking at the sight of her head all hot rollered up. "Don't I make quite the sight?"

The two laughed, easing some of the serious mood, when Rio noticed Alit's nails. Various nails were chipped, and they were all pretty much different sizes: some longer, some shorter. Not wanting their conversations to end, Rio reached into her vanity's drawer and pulled out a nail file and some clear, nail-strengthening nail polish. "Do you want me to fix your nails?"

* * *

Kotori walked into the Kamishiro manor, let in by Mizael, and walked towards Rio's room. They were supposed to meet an hour ago and Rio wasn't answering her calls! She wasn't mad per se, just concerned. Did she forget? Did she take a nap and just not wake up yet? Did she--

Kotori's thought process stopped as she heard laughter and banter from Rio's room. Curious, she knocked on the door. The laughter and banter died down to hushed whispers, before Rio's voice rang clear with a "Come in!"

As she opened the door, Kotori was surprised to find Alit in Rio's room with her. The sight before her was unique, to say the least: Rio had her hair up in curlers, and she was doing Alit's nails at her vanity.

"Uh, should I come back later, or...?" 

"Nah, its fine!" Alit said, smiling at Kotori. "We were just talkin' about different stuff is all."

"I thought we were going to meet at the mall." Rio replied, looking somewhat confused.

"Yeah, we were." Kotori explained, "An _hour_ ago."

"An hour? I'm that late?" Rio asked, her eyes widening somewhat. She looked at Alit then, "Am I good to get these curlers out of my hair?"

"Yeah, sure," Alit pulled his hands away from Rio, gently blowing on his nails. "I just need these to dry already so I can take those rollers out."

"I can help!" Kotori explained, moving closer to Rio. "My mom uses them, and sometimes asks me to help take them out."

"Ok then," Alit replied, smiling, "you take out her rollers while I wait for my nails to dry."

Alit watched as Kotori carefully removed the rollers from Rio's hair, watching their expressions as Rio's hair curled nicely bit by bit. Rio's expression was clearly impressed, as she raised a hand to gently stroke a curl. Kotori's expression, however, was sheer awe, as well as a little something that caused Alit to smirk.

"What do you guys think?" He asked.

"It looks good, Alit." Rio said, looking over herself in her vanity mirror.

"Yeah, she looks so pretty!" Kotori exclaimed, her eyes practically shining as she looked over Rio.

Alit's smirk grew at that, and he urged Rio and Kotori away from the vanity and to the bedroom door. "You should prob'ly head to the mall then, before it gets late." 

"Alright, alright, we're going." Rio said, shifting away from Alit. "Thank you for doing my hair."

"Nah, its no problem." He dismissed, waving a hand at her. "I had fun. Now thats what you two should go do now."

The two girls gave their goodbyes and walked out the room, leaving Alit alone with his rollers. He allowed himself to smile as he recalled the past few minutes. Rio didn't notice; She was too busy admiring herself in the mirror. But Alit saw. He saw the way Kotori looked at Rio.

Maybe there was hope for her and Kotori yet.


End file.
